Secondary Name Server(s) 8a. Secondary Server Hostname.......: yb.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress.....: 284.232.232.36 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: yc.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 287.246.46.48 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: yd.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 287.387.332.37 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: ye.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 372.235.368.38 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: yf.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 236.32.338.34 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: yg.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 284.378.338.35 8a. Secondary Server Hostname..: yh.FOO.COM 8b. Secondary Server Netaddress: 328.33.63.225 END OF AGREEMENT For instructions, please refer to: "http://www.networksolutions.com/help/inst-mod.html"(Yes, the IP numbers are bad and I don't have anything to do with foo.com.)
>Secondary Name Server(s) >8a. Secondary Server Hostname.......: yb.FOO.COM >8b. Secondary Server Netaddress.....: 284.232.232.36 > > >END OF AGREEMENT > > >For instructions, please refer to: >"http://www.networksolutions.com/help/inst-mod.html"Yes, you got that right. They cut 12 lines out of the MIDDLE but they LEAVE BEHIND the boilerplate that makes it look like that's exactly what you TOLD THEM TO DO in the first place.
Is it too much to ask to be able to find non-standard jewel cases???
So. There I was, cleaning up my CD collection, trying to replace all the cracked, damaged, drilled, cut, or hub-damaged jewel cases I had.
(No, this isn't going to be about "Why use jewel cases" - I LIKE jewel cases, especially compared to Digi-packs or various 'replacement' cd storage solutions. But that's for another time.)
So, anyway, there I was, and despite my general tendancies towards extreme retentiveness in retaining the original style of packaging, I was wanting to replace the 2/3's width cases on the 10 disc "Swing Time" set I got for $30 a while ago. What I wanted to put these discs into was either a 6 disc double-wide and 4 disc double-wide or in 2 5 disc doublewides.
(Some of my terminology: A normal jewel case is a single disc, single width, cd singles usually come in 2/3'ds width cases with J-cards, old-style 2 disc sets came in double-wides, and new-styles sets in 2 disc single-wides, of which I've seen at least 4 different designs. there are also 3, 4, 5 and 6 disc double-wide cases. I'll be using {number of discs}x{width of case} from here on out.
ANYWAY. So, I wanted to put these 10 discs in either a 6x2 and a 4x2 or
in 2 5x2's. So I started to look for these. I knew they existed. I have
Richard Thompson's Watching The Dark (I think that's the title) and
the complete Etron Fou Louleblon in 3x2's and I have something in a 4x2 and
Linux Power Tools comes in a 6x2!
But they were NOWHERE to be found. I asked at every record store (Used AND New)
that I went into. I looked on the web. I asked friends. Nothing. Well...not
QUITE nothing. I did finally find the Sony Duplication Services order numbers
for 3-6x2's. But those pages are for people purchasing runs of discs that
will be packaged in these cases right off the assembly line. They're NOT
for 1-off retail sales.
And so I've continued to look. And I've continued to lose. And to get more
frustrated and rant-ful.
If you have any ideas, please let me know...I really want these cases.
11/98
Update 3: Interestingly, someone's started making 3x1's! They'd be Really Cool
except that you can't put any sort of fullsize U or J card in them at all,
leaving you the options of either a half-size 'L' card, or...something else
hackish. They DO take booklets, though. Seen at
Planet Records, Cambridge MA
- 8/14/2000
Update 2: I was also sent the following URL, which has what I'm looking for.
They have a min. order that's a bit annoying, and it will thus take a bit of
overcoming inertia for me to order, but hey...if anyone else around Boston
wants something from them, let me know, and I'll be more motivated to split
an order...
A link to ccssinc.com
6/4/99
Update: Someone's pointed me at a source in Cambridge that I haven't had a
chance to check out. I'm dubious, but hopeful.
(Ok, I went there - Planet Records in Harvard Square. They stock 3x2 and 4x2's,
which is much better than most other places, but still doesn't get me the
5 and 6x2's I'm looking for, which I KNOW exist.
2/23/99
As well, the folks at CDROM.com suggested I talk to their duplicator,
Nimbus, which I will do soon, though this isn't the answer I'm really looking
for. These things should be available RETAIL, damn it!
12/31/98
Why does Langenscheidt hate Boston?
The Langenscheidt Publishing Group is the owner of most of the most well-known regional map companies in the US, including ADC (Mid-Atlantic), Hagstrom (Metro-NY), and Arrow (New England), as well as a few others. (I'm primarily writing about the companies whose maps I've used...:)
Unfortunately, their growing conglomerate status has meant bad news and a lack of competition for the consumers of their maps.
In the days of competition, there were Arrow and American maps in DC, ADC looked like it would eventually cover the whole east coast and Hagstrom (known in NYC as "The Holy Hagstrom") did Boston, too.
Now, not really surprisingly, but distressingly nontheless, LPG has decided that only one of their companies should do business in any region.
So why am I ranting? Because by doing this, they've made it so I'm driving around Boston with a piece of crap that serves to get me lost as often as it helps me find where I'm going.
How does this get me lost? Byt the simple fact that there's no easy way to deal when you're on the edge of a map. Say you want to go to somplace on the Boston/Quincy border. Where you want to go will be right on the margin of the map - you know - next to the street listing key. You can't get context from EITHER map. If you're trying to figure out what the best route is, you're stuck flipping 120 pages back and forth. If you want to know how far something is? You're also doomed. Every single map is in a different scale to make it fit on one or 2 pages.
What to do? That's easy.
Take a look at Thomas Bros. Maps or even
Langenschidt's own ADC (formerly the
Alexandria Drafting Company) - single scale book maps, layed out in a simple
mosaic pattern...you know -
MAP1 - MAP2 - MAP3 - MAP4
MAP5 - MAP6 - MAP7 - MAP8
MAP9 -MAP10 -MAP11 -MAP12
and so on.
The thing that really pisses me off is that A) there WAS a Hagstrom Book map of the area that had all of the features that I want, but now LPC doesn't publish that map any more and B) LDC has shown that they know it's a good idea by publishing a mini book of the Boston area in the 'proper' format, and trumpting all of the advantages on the front cover. Unfortunately, they don't have these 'features' in their big books. Let's hope it comes soon.
If there is any sort of Deity in the heavens or Justice in the US, the complaint of Caldera against MacroSloth will go forward and they will WIN and Win will Lose. But that's aready the case, isn't it....anyway... Please. Pretty Please.
What timing! Just as I was getting ready to rant about something new in this
space, the following comes across my desk:
Bad News for MicroSnot!
Quick summary: A Federal judge has ruled that Caldera may now legally
bring new allegations that Microsoft illegally created a technical tie
of MS-DOS into Win95.
They claim that this action illegally shut out competing versions of
DOS, such as Caldera's DR-DOS.
Unfortunately, I've lost the URL. CNN probably
has it someplace...
Unfortunately, they settled. Caldera got money, which is good, but M$
didn't give up an API or anything else, which is bad. Ah Well.
02/10/00
What the HELL is it with counter.digits.com?
Why the hell are people so insistant on putting digits.com's counter on their
pages? Despite the claims on their page
that the system running digits.com is a very StuDLy system that
"employs specialized threaded servers which have been written
for the task" and that "[t]he system consists of three separate servers which take care
of HTTP requests, database manipulations, and real-time image generation. The
servers are completely processor and network I/O bound and are able to handle
at least 50 requests per second on a 60Mhz BSD/OS Pentium running BSD/OS while
incurring no disk overhead," every single goddamned page that references them
ALWAYS (or at least during the middle of the day) spends something like
45 seconds waiting for a response.
There are people out there who have the pointer on every one of their (otherwise
fine and interesting) pages. To try to surf these pages is an excercise in
frustration, as one gets stuck waiting for the response and the rest of the
page just sits there until the digits.com request times out.
Yes. I realize that if I were to use NutScrape, or some other multi-threaded
browser, I would be in a situation where the rest of the page would finish
loading while the digits.com counter was timing out, but even with NoEscape,
if the counter's graphic is at the top of the page, you still end up with
a either really annoying redraw when it finally gets the image size or with
the rest of the page not drawing until it knows what it's drawing for the
counter.
What's the point? Why BOTHER?